Incredible Phantom
by ilovepuppies125
Summary: After Dani leaves Amity Park she ends up with nowhere to go. When she finds herself in Metrocity, the city home to a notorious family of supers, she also finds a new family, a new school, new friends, and maybe a new love. But can this girl with a tortured past open up to anyone? And is she really safe from her past in Metrocity? DaniXDash
1. Chapter 1

Incredible Phantom

Chapter one:

Dani POV-

Since I left Amity Park and Danny a few months ago, after Danny and Valerie saved me from being me melted into a puddle of ectoplasmic goo, I had not stayed anywhere for a long period of time. Lately I had just been a nomad, floating from town to town. Because I had no money, and really no identity, I ate whatever food I could find and slept wherever I could find shelter, which didn't always get me in the best situations.

Take now for instance, last night I spent the night in an abandoned warehouse in someplace called Metrocity that was mostly inhabited by rats, cockroaches, homeless people and gang members. They paid no attention to me and I managed to curl up in a tight corner and fall asleep. However, I really didn't get into trouble until the next day. I was caught stealing food, and then, to make matters worse, I was taken down to the police department and interrogated. The police could find no record of me, anywhere on earth or even a social security number, however, the only thing that they seemed to focus on was the fact that I wasn't in school.

"We will have to call your parents," a stern woman told me, eyeing me suspiciously.

"I don't have any," I muttered quietly. The woman let out a huff of annoyance, like I was a piece of gum that she couldn't get off of her large, black, police-issue shoes.

"There must be someone who takes care of you," she glared at me, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head in reply.

The woman pulled her eyebrows together, in, what almost looked like a look of concern, before quickly reverting back to her usual hard face.

"You will be placed in the foster system," she announced finally, I opened my mouth to argue, but one glare from her cold, black eyes, and I quickly shut my mouth again, "You will be staying with the Best family." For a second I thought that maybe I had softened her heart and she actually wanted me to be with the best foster family that they could offer, but I quickly realized that that was not necessarily the case, because, in fact, the last name of the family was Best.

She called over one of the other police officers. "Would you call Lucius and Honey and get them to come pick her up." The other officer nodded, walking away to call my new foster parents. The stern woman stepped away, and I sat in the large, very uncomfortable, chair, terrified. '_What if they don't like me? What if they are mean to me?' _I thought, fidgeting in my seat. After my experiences with Vlad, I had a hard time trusting others, except for Danny, Valerie, Tucker, and Sam. What if this new family abused me like Vlad did. The other officer in the room, a younger, nicer looking woman who had been left to look after me, seemed to notice my fear.

"Are you nervous?" she asked. I nodded, looking at her.

"Don't worry," she soothed, "Honey and Lucius are great people, they are not able to have children so the have fostered a lot. I've always heard that they treat their foster children really well," she assured me.

"Have you met them?" I asked quietly.

She nodded, "They are really nice," she told me, smiling sweetly. This calmed me down a little, but still, so many worries flashed through my mind. I had never been to a real school before (other than that day I went to Danny's when I was still working for Vlad) I didn't have a great education, except for the brain of a fourteen year old boy, which, if you had seen his grades, did not exactly give me peace of mind. I also didn't have any friends except for Danny, and I had no idea how to really make friends. But most importantly, I had never been a part of a family before, what if they didn't like me or even want me?

About ten minutes later, the other woman barged open the door.

"Come on kid, get your things, your new foster parents are here," she demanded.

I nodded and scooped up my things, which weren't much, a small denim backpack which contained a water bottle, the pack of crackers that I was caught stealing, a small vile of the ecto-dejecto just in case I become unstable again, and a little stuffed dog that I had found a few months ago.

I followed the woman out of the interrogation room and into the lobby where my new foster parents were waiting. I saw them sitting on a bench, they were an African American couple, both were tall and thin. Finally, they turned when they saw us approach, they both smiled at me and I gave a tiny, hesitant, smile back. The woman handed me off the couple, the woman, I guess her name is honey, put her hand on my shoulder and led me outside.

'_Well,'_ I thought to myself, _'Here we go."_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

Honey POV-

"I'm Honey and this is Lucius," I introduced us to the young girl once we were in the parking lot. It was so sad, she couldn't have been more than twelve years old and she had no family.

"I'm Danielle, but I go by Dani with an I," she told us, giving me a weak smile.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Dani," I told her, giving her a smile, "is that all the stuff you have?" I asked indicating the small jean backpack on her shoulders. She nodded. '_Poor thing,'_ I thought, '_She has nothing.'_ The police had told me that she was busted for stealing food, and looking at her appearance, it made perfect sense, the girl was obviously starving. Danielle was dressed in loose, ragged clothes, that were ripped and torn all over. Her blue sweatshirt, although it looked like it had once been warm, now barely served the same purpose because it was filled with so many holes. The same was true for her red pants and matching red hat. Her black hair was tied into a ponytail under her hat but it was matted and clearly hadn't been washed in a while. Her skin was pale and stood out in stark contrast to her bright ice-blue eyes.

"Alright," Lucius said snapping me out of my evaluation, "here we are." He gestured to our car, a white SUV. Danielle nodded, tentatively getting in the back seat. I sighed, it was obvious that this girl had had a rough life so far, I hoped that she would be able to trust us soon. We drove home in practical silence, the only noise would occur when I would ask her a question, which she would answer in monosyllabic responses.

"So, Dani, how old are you?" I asked her.

"Twelve," she replied, barely making eye contact.

"So you're in sixth or seventh grade?" I prompted.

"Sixth grade," she answered. I nodded. Again we were silent. Finally we arrived home. We used to live in an apartment but when we started fostering children we moved into a house just down the street from our friends the Parrs.

_Beep Beep_, my cellphone buzzed, with perfect timing considering the sender was none other than Helen Parr.

'Hey, do you and Lucius want to come over for dinner?' my text message read.

'Sure, do you mind if we bring a foster child we just picked up?' I replied.

'No problem, I'll set an extra place at dinner,' she wrote back.

'Thanks,' I sent, ending the conversation.

"Hey, Dani?" I asked, turning back to face the anxious girl in the back seat, "We were invited to have dinner down the street and I wondered if you wanted to come with us."

"Okay," she agreed with a smile.

"Ooh great!" I exclaimed, "They have a son about your age, and it would probably be good, if you met someone who goes to the school you will be starting at next week."

"Okay," Dani nodded.

We pulled into our driveway and I led her into the house.

Dani POV-

"This is where you will be staying," Honey said, showing me a bedroom. The room was obviously meant for a girl because three walls were a light blue and one wall was bright pink. There were two twin beds on opposite sides of the room separated by two nightstands in between. In the corner there was a little desk that matched the beds and nightstand.

Honey went to the closet and pulled out an outfit: a pair of white Capri pants and a red and white striped shirt along with a dark purple hoodie and some under garments.

"The bathroom is next door," Honey told me, "Why don't you take a shower and change and then we can head over, okay?"

I nodded. She left the room and I went to the bathroom, taking the clothes with me. I stripped down, tossing my old clothes in the trashcan I turned on the water. Once it was warm enough, I stepped under the stream. I felt the grime from the passed couple of months fall off of me and drifted down the drain. After shampooing and conditioning and a large amount of scrubbing on my body, I finally stepped out of the shower.

I towel dried my hair and then brushed it out, surprised at how shiny it was now, then I got dressed. When I came out of the bathroom, I found my way to the living room. Lucius looked up from reading the newspaper.

"Great," he grinned, "now we can go." I followed them out the front door to meet the neighbors.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three:

Meanwhile, at the Parr household-

Violet POV-

"Mom," Dash asked, "What's for dinner?"

"Chicken spaghetti," my mom answered.

"Why do we have to eat soo late?" Dash whined. (Even though it was only about thirty minutes later than we would normally eat).

"Because Lucius and Honey are coming over," she sighed.

"Mom," Dash whined, AGAIN, "I'm hungry."

"Dinner will be ready soon," she replied, annoyed with his constant questions, "Go find something to do!" I was watching the whole thing unfold from my spot on the couch with a book. I sighed, putting up a force-field to block out the noise.

'_Silence,'_ I smiled to myself, '_so much better.' _I swear, Dash is twelve years old, but at home he still acts like a five year old. Of course, at school he thinks he is king of the world because he is a track star.

'_Big deal, you're in sixth grade, get over yourself,'_ I thought to myself, when I was his age I wasn't nearly as cocky (of course when I was his age no one noticed me at all).

Suddenly my dad knocked on my force-field, my personal bubble, and interrupted me from my musings. I let my force field fall.

"Come on Violet, it's time for dinner," he told me. I agreed and followed my dad to the dinner table.

_Ding Dong_, the doorbell rang.

"Okay, I know you all are used to using your powers around Lucius and Honey but they have a new foster child with them tonight so please, please, act normal," my mom commanded.

_Ding Dong,_ the doorbell rang again.

"Coming!" my mom called, and went to open the door. I heard them greeting each other and then they finally walked into the dining room where we were all seated.

"Everyone," Honey announced, "this is Dani."

"Danny?" Dash asked, "Isn't that a boy's name?"

"Dani with an I, it's short for Danielle," Dani rolled her eyes.

"Hi, I'm Violet," I spoke up, "and that moron is my brother Dash."

"Hey!" Dash spoke up. Dani giggled, I think I'm gonna like this girl. She actually looked a lot like I did when I was her age. Long black hair fell passed her shoulders with a little curl in the ends, she also had blue eyes, except hers were much brighter than mine. Dani seemed a little untrusting and hesitant, much like I used to, but at the same time she radiates a kind of confidence that I never had when I was her age.

"Violet don't call your brother a moron," my mother scolded lightly, "I'm Helen, by the way, and this is my husband Bob."

"Nice to meet you," Dani said quietly.

"Shall we eat?" my mom asked everyone and was met by various cheers of agreement.

Dani sat between Dash and I, swear I have never seen another girl eat as much as she does. She piled the spaghetti on her plate four times before she even started to slow down.

"So Dani," my mom asked attempting to spark a conversation, "How old are you?"

"Twelve," Dani answered. Wow, she didn't seem like she was twelve, she looked a little younger than that, but, at the same time, she seemed like she had experienced so much for such a young age, it was easy to see her as slightly older than that.

"Wow," my mom smiled, "You're the same age as Dash, you two will be going to the same school, you might even have some classes together." Dani smiled and nodded politely.

"So," my mom started, "What do you like to do for fun?"

"I like reading, listening to music, playing video games, and NASA, " she shrugged. I didn't expect that, she had a few of the same interests as my brother and I do.

"Which video games?" Dash spoke up.

"I like Doom a lot," Dani told him.

"You wanna play?" he asked. "I have it in my room."

"Only if you're prepared to loose," she smirked.

"Oh, you are so on," he smirked back and they both exited the table, going to Dash's room. The adults looked back and forth between each other, sharing knowing smiles and trying not to laugh.

"What?" I asked after a minute.

"Nothing," they all replied at the same time, which obviously means it's something.

"Ugh," I rolled my eyes, leaving the table, slowly I crept down the hall, turned myself invisible and slipped into my brother's room through the door that was partially cracked.

What I saw was hilarious. Dani was currently crushing Dash's high score, and because I've seen all of his friends fail to do this, I know that it must not be very easy. Dash had his teeth gritted and was pounding on the buttons of the controller, while Dani, seeing his frustration, simply giggle as she killed more people in the game.

Quietly leaving the way I came, I smirked, I am definitely going to like this girl.


	4. Chapter 4

**Oops forgot the disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or the Incredibles, only the plot is mine.**

Chapter four:

Dash POV-

I blinked when I realized what had just happened. _A GIRL_ just beat me at DOOM. How is that even possible? She told us at dinner that she had never gone to school or had a family but somehow she had become a DOOM champion?

She looked over at me, not even bothering to hide the smug look on her face.

"Well?" she smirked.

"You're good," I finally sighed, not wanting to admit it at all.

"Thanks," she grinned, the smirk still not falling off her face.

"So…what do you want to do now?" I asked.

"I don't care," she shrugged, folding her legs crisscross-applesauce style. We sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of us knowing what to say or do.

"So…how did you end up in Metrocity?" I decided to ask. If I had not been paying attention, I would have missed the subtle stiffening in her shoulders (my sister thinks I'm stupid, which is kind of true when it comes to school, but I can actually pick up on things about other people rather easily), after a few seconds she released a sigh and told me.

"Well, because I don't really have a family, I've kind of just been switching from city to city and then I ended up here."

"Where are you from?" I wondered.

"Somewhere in Colorado, I guess, but I spent a good deal of time in Amity Park Illinois too" she answered, as if this was the first time she had ever thought about it. 'I guess' what kind of answer is that? Shouldn't she know where she's from. And Amity Park? I had never heard of that city.

"What's your last name?" I asked, not knowing why I really asked it other than the fact that I was curious. She seemed to put a lot of thought into this question, the look on her face made it obvious that she was debating on what to tell me.

"Fenton," she told me finally, her face was a firm, keeping her emotions hidden. But I sensed that that was not the only thing she was hiding, this girl looked like she had had a hard life and she was _definitely _keeping some secrets. This made me a little nervous, because we have to keep our secret identities…well, secret, I was slightly afraid that she was some kind of spy for any of our enemies. Mentally, I shook that thought off, there is no way that she could possibly know who we are, she came from some other part of the country and on top of that, it was not possible that she could have planned to end up with Lucius and Honey. Heck, she probably didn't even know what supers were, as far as I knew, most of them were still in hiding except for us and a few others.

"So what's school like?" she asked suddenly, with a slight bit of a shake to her voice. With a start I realized that she was nervous.

"It's okay. It's almost fun without homework or evil teachers or well…learning," I told her, she giggled in reply, "So you've really never been in school before?"

She shook her head, "My…dad" she said the voice like it was acid on her tongue, "didn't really want me…out in public."

"Why?" I asked, not expecting this response.

"Because…to him, I was a mistake," she said, quietly, averting her gaze to the floor.

'_Ouch,'_ I thought, '_Her own father didn't even want her.'_ Although I probably wouldn't admit it, that made me all the more grateful that my parents actually cared about me.

"Oh…" I replied, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't think that you were a mistake." _'Where did that come from? I barely know her'_ I wondered. Dani's eyes lit up like the forth of July with…hope?

"Thanks," she smiled a little, "Anyway, I lived with my dad until my cousin came and saved me. I've been on my own ever since."

"What about your cousin, why can't you live with him?" I asked, a flash of sadness brushed across her pale face.

"It's complicated…" she told me.

"You can tell me," I prodded, I'm not sure why I cared so much about her, or why it mattered to me that she didn't trust me enough to tell me.

'_Of course she doesn't trust me yet, we _just_ met. And how could she trust anybody with a home life like that?'_ I convinced myself.

"Maybe another time…" she smiled a little. I nodded, not sure whether or not she meant it. Would she ever actually tell me?

'_Why do I CARE?'_ I mentally asked myself.

"Dani!" Honey suddenly called from down the hall, "Come on, it's time to go home!"

"Okay," she called back, standing up to leave. I stood up too, and followed her to the front door where they were preparing to leave.

"Bye Dash," she said, smiling at me, "See you at school on Monday?" She sounded a little concerned, like she was afraid that she would never see me again. I was a little surprised, but attributed it to the fact that she didn't want to be alone on her first day of school.

'_It has nothing to do with _me,' I assured myself. But then again, _'why would I care if it did? Why is she any different from other girls?'_

"Yeah, definitely," I assured her. She grinned, waving goodbye to everyone and thanking my mom for dinner before leaving with Honey and Lucius out the front door.

Dani POV-

I'm glad I met Dash, it would be nice to know someone on my first day.

'_And he's really nice and cute, wait. What? Where did that come from? How could I possibly think he's cute? I just met him. It's probably just because he was nice to me, and the first guy, my age, that I have met,' _I processed in my head.

"So, Dani?" Honey asked, "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, and I kicked Dash's butt at DOOM," I smirked.

"Whoa! Really?" Lucius asked, dumbfounded, "He's really good at that too."

"Not good enough," I shrugged.

"Alright Danielle, why don't you go get some sleep. Tomorrow, I'm gonna take you shopping," Honey told me as we walked in the house. I complied, going to my bedroom. I sifted through the clothes until I found a loose t-shirt and some shorts that would serve as PJ's , I slid them on and promptly fell into bed. I was out the second my head hit the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Incredibles or Danny Phantom **

Chapter five:

Dani POV-

My eyes fluttered open to warm sunshine on my face. I sat up, stretching on the soft blankets and pillows. Sighing, I got up out of the warmth or the bed, placing my feet on the cool hardwood floors, shuffling over to the closet. I rummaged through the closet until I found a pair of black skinny jeans and a pink t-shirt that looked like the would fit me. Standing in front of the full-length mirror on the back of the door, I quickly pulled my black hair into its usual ponytail, but then as I examined it more in the mirror, I decided against it, instead pulling my hair into a half ponytail like Danny's friend Sam. Satisfied with my appearance, I turned back to my bed, which was rumpled and askew because of my constant tossing and turning. I pulled the soft pink, blankets and sheets until they were neatly arranged on the bed, placing the pillow on top to mirror the other bed in the room. Then I placed my stuffed dog, Cujo, who I had named after a ghost dog I had once met, in the center of the pillow, finally hanging my jean bag on the end post of the bed.

"Dani, I's time to-oh," Honey stopped when she realized that I was already awake, "Oh, well, good morning," she greeted me, regaining her composure, "Wow, I see you already made you bed, that was very thoughtful of you."

"Well, I've never had a bed before and it's the least I can do considering that you welcomed me into your home," I shrugged.

"It's no problem at all, Dani, now why don't you go down to the kitchen, Lucius is making pancakes," she told me. I grinned, and raced downstairs, I had never had pancakes before but they sounded delicious. I sat at one of the bar stools, waiting. Lucius had his back turned to me, flipping the sweet-smelling pastries on a pan on the cooktop. Finally he turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw me sitting there.

I couldn't help it, I started giggling barely managing to provide an apology through my laughter, Honey who had been right outside of the door started laughing to.

"Yeah, well, she just caught me off guard, 'all," Lucius pouted, dropping the pancakes on the plate in front of me, and passing me a bottle of syrup. I picked up the syrup, easily drowning the pancakes in it, before I picked up a fork and cut a piece, plopping it in my mouth.

"Mmm," I mused, and tried to say, "It's really good," with my mouth full but it ended up sounding like "S relgere oud." Honey laughed, taking the seat next to me and a few pancakes for herself. She poured us a glass of orange juice, which I quickly sipped, to get the syrup off of the roof of my mouth.

When everyone had finished their breakfast, Honey grabbed her purse and ushered us all to the garage.

"Do I really have to come?" Lucius whined, I stifled another giggle.

"Yes," Honey replied in a 'there-is-no-way-you-are-getting-out-of-this' tone.

Honey POV-

We piled into the car, Lucius had to drive because the way to the mall was a lot of downtown highway driving with extreme amounts of traffic, that there was no way I was going to drive, plus someone had to hold the shopping bags.

Danielle was silent in the back seat, avidly watching the city fly by through the window of the back seat. When we finally arrived at the mall, Lucius was already fuming because I had criticized his driving a little, I mean it's not like I could ignore it, he almost hit a semi-truck. Danielle, bounded happily out of the back seat, matching her excited pace with that of mine and Lucius's.

"Don't you ruin this day for her," I hissed at him, motioning to the bright smile on Danielle's face. He sighed and finally nodded. When we walked through the glass double doors, I turned to Danielle.

"Dani, sweetie, where do you want to go?" her blue eyes got wide, as she whipped her head from side to side, trying to figure out where she wanted to go. Finally she skipped off in the direction of a boutique, and our shopping day began.

I have never met a girl with such eccentric, off the wall taste, but at the same time is able to make these outfits work. We bought outfits that would be considered preppy, Goth, sporty, tomboyish, or even just plain weird, ranging from skinny jeans to poufy skirts, to t-shirts and dress shirts to sundresses. I could definitely see this girl with a future in fashion design. However, as far as shoes went, she only bought three pairs, red Converse, navy blue Converse, and a pair of white flip flops. Every so often, Danielle would pause, and glance at me, fearing that she was spending too much or that maybe we wanted to stop, but I always urged her on, seeing her blue eyes light up again. Alright, I will admit, we were spending a lot of money (of course I wouldn't let Lucius see the bill) but even still, this was not the most money I had ever even spent on a foster child (I hadn't let him see that bill either). We finally stopped when I heard her stomach rumble. I laughed, taking her hand and leading her to the food court. It hadn't ceased to amaze me, every time she would get excited over something the rest of the world would take for granted. I saw her inhale deeply at the collection of food court smells, her eyes widening again.

"What would you like to eat?" I asked her. She grinned.

"That smells good," she told me, pointing to the Chinese cuisine stand, which was also one of my favorites. I laughed at this, nodding as we walked over. A lady handed Danielle a sample of orange chicken on a toothpick, which she savored happily.

"Ooh," she grinned, "I want that!" Again, I laughed.

"Three orders of orange chicken please," I ordered for all of us, collecting our drinks too. Danielle went over to the soda fountain, sticking her cup under every option, creating a mixture of all of them. I wrinkled my nose, that is not something that I would enjoy, but she took a sip and a smile spread on her face. I settled on a Diet Coke and a Dr. Pepper for Lucius, carrying our tray to the table. It was actually had to see Lucius through the sea of shopping bags that we had weighed him down with. Grunting he ate his orange chicken. Danielle had finished hers in two minutes.

'_Man, that girl can eat,' _I thought. Even Lucius, who wasn't even half-way done, stared at her wide-eyed. When we had all finished, we went to the car, placing the bags in the truck, so full it nearly covered the back window. Lucius shook his head but said nothing, taking his seat in the driver's side. We drove home, once again Danielle said nothing, but the bright smile that was still on her face was enough.

Today, I decided had been an amazing day, nearly perfect, that is until we got home. The second we pulled into the driveway, a giant robot came stomping down our residential streets.

Of course, evil never takes a break.

**Hey the movie doesn't specify if Honey has superpowers but I want to give her some. You can send me some suggestions if you want to.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6-

Honey POV-

Lucius ran into the house to retrieve his super suit, I couldn't follow for risk of Danielle getting suspicious, I also couldn't let het go in the house, where she would be safe because, knowing Lucius, he would be running all over the house in his suit trying to find his glove or something. So, instead, we both stood on the sidewalk, helplessly watching the robot. Oddly enough, Danielle seemed to be confused as to what she was going to do too, like it was torture for her not to be able to do anything.

Great, just what we needed, another hero complex in this house.

Dani POV-

A giant robot was pounding down the street.

It was a rusted piece of junk with long, clumsy, legs, but even still, it seemed to be causing quite a lot of damage. I wasn't quite sure what I should do, I could either change and expose my secret, or not and let the neighborhood be destroyed. I looked over to Honey, who bit her lip, studying me with the same 'not-sure-what-to-do' look that I was giving her.

Then, it started getting weird, when five people in tights (four were red and one was blue), appeared in the road. There were two men, in different costumes, one woman, who's costume matched one of the men's, a girl, who's costume also matched, and a boy who was younger than her, who's costume also matched.

In a matter of seconds, the thoughts that went through my mind were, '_Okay, that's weird,' _to '_They're going to get themselves killed,'_ to (when things started to happen), '_Wow, they must be superheroes.'_

I had heard about superheroes, of course, but I had never seen one who wasn't a ghost, in other words, Danny and myself. The younger boy, ran (I guess you could call it that considering he was faster than the speed of light) around the legs of the robot, while one of the men, the African American one in a blue costume, froze the legs. Having, only recently, discovered my ice powers, I was able to appreciate this more. The other man, punched the robot with super strength, and the robot crashed to the ground, where it would have left a deep gauge in the cement if the girl hadn't had have put up some kind of force field, which seemed to block everything, unlike my ecto shield which only blocks ecto-energy. The woman, stretched, yes I do mean stretched her arms, reaching inside of the cockpit of the robot and removing a short, fat man. All the neighbors who had gone outside to see what was going on, cheered, as the short man was loaded into the back of a police cruiser.

He gave the usual villain speech, "You haven't seen the last of me…" blah, blah, blah. I'd heard it from my own 'father' before. After the police had driven away with the villain, the superheroes dispersed. After a few minutes, Honey and I went into the house, where Lucius was sitting on the couch, watching TV.

'_Funny,'_ I thought to myself, '_I hadn't noticed him leave the front yard. But honestly, when a robot is attacking your neighborhood, do you go watch TV?'_ I was temped to ask these questions, but inevitably decided against it, then they might ask, why I _hadn't _run inside, as this would have been the normal response for someone who was afraid of a giant robot. So, instead, I just took my many shopping bags, that we had removed from the trunk of the car, to my room and began unpacking them.

…

Today was now my first day of school, and I was secretly freaking out.

I hadn't been able to sleep much the night before, so an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off, I just laid awake staring at the glowing red numbers. A minute before it went off, I leaned over and turned it off, so I wouldn't have to hear the obnoxious buzzing. I put on the outfit I had been planning to wear: a blue t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and a black, mid-length, quarter-sleeved, leather jacket. I left my hair down and applied a little strawberry-flavored lip gloss to my lips, before going down stairs.

When I got downstairs, Lucius had already left for work, and Honey was pouring herself a glass of coffee in the kitchen. She smiled at me offering a 'good morning'. I smiled back and replied, before popping a couple S'mores Poptarts in the toaster for myself and pouring a glass of orange juice.

Again, I decided to look over my class schedule while I munched on my warm Poptart.

1st period- English

2nd period- Art

3rd period- Gym

4th period- Lunch

5th period- Science

6th period- Math

7th period- Social Studies

8th period- Advanced Contemporary Literacy

The last class was certainly a mouthful, but Honey assured me that it was essentially reading, with a little bit of public speaking, debate, and test-taking skills. Fun.

I wondered how many of my classes I would have with Dash, not that I really care, of course.

Soon it was time to leave. I gathered my new school supplies in my new, navy blue tote bag, slinging it over my shoulder, and we headed out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven-

Dani POV-

We arrived at the school earlier than mostly everybody else so that I could collect my textbooks and locker assignment. It didn't take to long, and before we knew it, Honey and I were weighted down, each with about three books, trying to find my locker which was somewhere on the second floor, in the farthest hallway.

Finally, we found it, and after a few minutes of explaining to me how a combination lock works, we had all my books supplies organized inside. Honey then realized that she had to be at work soon, so she gave me a hug, for good luck, and exited to building. Considering I had a little over a half an hour until the first bell rang, I decided to find my classrooms and map out my route. I started with English, room 237. The woman at the desk had explained that all of the rooms that started with a 2 were the upstairs rooms, so it didn't take me very long to walk the upstairs before I found it. Next I had Art, which, was in another building along with the gym and cafeteria, so I decided to skip those. My science and math rooms were in the same hallway, downstairs, and then my Social Studies and Advanced Contemporary Literacy (ACL) classrooms were upstairs again. When people were starting to show up, I went back to my locker where I grabbed my English textbook, my binder, a folder, and my pencil bag, before going to my first period class. The light was still off, and the classroom door was locked, so I sat down, sliding against the wall, and perching my supplies on my knees. I flipped absentmindedly through a book we had purchased at Barnes and Noble when we had gone shopping, because I wasn't really in the mood for reading.

"Hey," I cheerful voice said above me. I looked up from my book to see a blonde girl with green eyes smiling at me.

"Hi," I replied with a smile. The other girl grinned and slid down next to me.

"My name is Ricky, you must be new here, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, my name is Danielle, but you can call me Dani, with an I," I told her.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Dani with an I," she joked, causing me to laugh, "So where'd you move here from?"

"Umm…" I thought for a minute, "The last place I was before here was…Omaha, I think."

"So you've moved around a lot then?" she asked.

"You could definitely say that," I laughed. At this moment, the teacher arrived, and the class that had gathered outside followed him inside. He was a really tall and thin man (very much unlike Danny's English teacher) with short light brown hair and stylish glasses over his brown eyes.

"Sorry, I'm late," he apologized, his back still to the class as he dropped his bag on his desk. I slowly went up to the desk. When he finally turned around, his eyes landed on me with a quizzical smile. I handed him a slip of paper that the front office had given me. He took it, reading it thoroughly before looking back up with a smile, and standing in front of the class.

"Everybody, this is Danielle Fenton, she's knew here, and she has been staying with the Best's," he announced to the class, "Now, Danielle, you can go ahead and take a seat next to Ricky over there." I nodded gratefully and quickly made my way to my new seat, the attention of all of my classmates making me uncomfortable. I noticed some of the guys got goofy smiles on their faces, while the girls, actually, one girl in particular, glared at me before her glare quickly switched to a sneaky smile. Ricky gave me a sympathetic look before we both pulled out our notebooks and began to copy the notes of the lesson. Mr. Asher, as I soon found out his name was, was actually a pretty good teacher, who knew how to keep the class entertained while he taught us the lesson, so it wasn't to long before the next bell rang and I picked up to go to my next class.

"Can I see your schedule?" Ricky asked, as we stood up. I agreed, handing my schedule over to her. Her green eyes flickered back and forth across the page, until she finally handed it back, smiling.

"We have Art, Lunch, and Science together," she exclaimed happily, "Come on, let's go." She took my wrist, leading me down the crowded hallway, weaving in between of the groups of people who had stopped to congregate. We ended in front of a portable building with a black and paint-splattered door with a plaque that read Ms. D. "You're going to love Mrs. D, she is the best teacher ever!" Ricky squealed, leading me inside.

Inside of the portable there was no air conditioning, but fans oscillated back and forth, gently lifting the projects that were hung around the room and the tarps on the floor. Ricky pointed out a woman in a smock in the back of the room. As I approached, I noticed that she had dark red hair cut into a short pixie style, bright blue eyes and a green smudge of paint on her left cheek.

"Oh hi there," she exclaimed, when she finally noticed me, "Are you new?"

"Hi," I replied, "And yes, I am new," I handed her my paper from the office.

"Ooh, delightful," she cheered, "I just love new students!" Once all of her students had settled in she walked me up to the front of the room, her paint-stained hands on my shoulders.

"Everybody, this is Danielle…oh, uh, do you go by anything else honey?" she asked looking down at me.

"Yeah, I go by Dani," I told her.

"Okay, well then this is _Dani_ and she is new here. She has just started living with the Best's," the eccentric teacher informed the class. I wondered why all of my teachers would keep emphasizing who I was living with but my thought were quickly cut off when the teacher spoke again, "Dani, why don't you just choose any seat."

I obeyed, taking a free stool next to Ricky.

"Dani, you could not have picked a better day to join this class because we have just started a new unit on painting. Now, I will play some music and all of you will just paint whatever comes to mind on the canvas on the easel in front of you, okay?" she asked.

Ms. D received a mumbled chorus of 'okay's and started the music. I picked up a paintbrush just as a soft ballad of classical piano music drifted out of the speakers of the little CD player on Ms. D's desk. Dipping my brush in the paint, it let my mind go and allowed the music to control my movements. Before I knew it, I had painted a beautiful sunset over the ocean, right after a storm had passed, a memory that I had only seen once, from the top of a lighthouse, when I had been breezing through Maine. Ms. D, who had been making her rounds, gently commenting and critiquing the various project, stopped in front of mine.

"My goodness, Danielle, you have quite a talent, this is beautiful," she beamed, "How did you come up with this?"

"It's just something that I saw once," I informed her. With all of the noise the woman was making, many of the other students leaned in closer to try and take a peek at what I had painted. I heard them gasp when the finally managed to see it. The teacher moved on, mumbling to herself about an Art Show, and Ricky leaned over to me.

"That looks amazing," she stated, giving me a genuine smile, "so much better than mine." She held up her canvas as proof.

"I disagree," I looked her in the eye, "Yours looks amazing." And it was, but a different kind of amazing. She had painted a girl on a cliff, and although, hers didn't capture as much detail as mine did, hers created a feeling of sadness, like you knew what the girl was thinking. In fact her painting hit hard with me because I had felt the same way many times. Confused. Unloved. Distrust in others. Resentment. Not knowing what will happen next. And the overwhelming urge to give up. But in the small corner of the painting, there was a single beam of bright yellow sunlight through the oppressing gray clouds, that gave the feeling that, everything will get better. That ray of sunshine gives you the reason to go on.

"You really think so?" Ricky asked, hopeful.

"Absolutely," I replied truthfully, "it's beautiful." Then the bell for our next class rang and Ricky and I left the art room, leaving our paintings out to dry.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

Dani POV-

We split up to go to our next classes, for me, my next class was gym. I managed to find the gym with little difficulty and then I gave my note to the coach.

"Here," she told me handing me a stack of gym clothes, "Go change in the locker room, your locker will be 256, it should be open. Here's your combination," she handed me a slip of paper with three numbers on it and pointed to a door at the other side of the gym. I nodded quickly, walking over to the door that said locker room. I looked around, I was one of the first people here and there were no cameras around so I quickly turned intangible, letting my school clothes fall off of me, before I put on the gym clothes. Then I opened my locker and stuffed my school bag and clothes inside before running back out into the gym, just as other people were starting to flood inside the locker room. I caught sight of one of the girls I had recognized from my first period class, she gave me a sneer, before flicking her hair over her shoulder and going to change.

The coach smiled at me as I walked into the gym. "Wow, you're fast, I wish all those other girls could actually change as fast as you can. Why don't you wait over there on the stands with the boy's class, we will be playing dodge-ball with them today." I nodded and smiled before heading over to the unfoldable bleachers where the boys were sitting. I saw Dash, chatting with a group of his guy friends but when he saw me he came over.

"Hey Dani," he greeted me.

"Hey Dash," I replied. Several of his friends had followed him over by now.

"Who's this?" they asked Dash.

"I'm Dani," I told them. The three boys grinned and stepped a little closer to me.

"Dani, do you know that you are the only one I have ever seen who can make these gym clothes look good," one guy with brown hair and green eyes smirked at me.

"Uh…thanks," I blushed.

"Come on John, leave some girls for the rest of us!" one of Dash's other friends exclaimed, I blushed even deeper.

"Come on guys, lay off the flirting, it's her first day," Dash jumped in to silence his friends. His friends playfully pouted before they invited me to go sit with them on the bleachers before the game started.

"So how do you two know each other?" Dash's third (and least forward) friend asked.

I opened my mouth to speak but Dash answered before I could, "She's staying with Lucius and Honey and they came to dinner at my house a few night ago," he said in a tone that, maybe I'm imagining it, but, almost sounded…possessive. For whatever reason, this seemed to be some kind of kind to his friends, who slowly nodded their heads, almost resentfully, but I did notice that they didn't try to flirt with me again.

Finally, all the other girls were out of the locker room and the coaches blew their whistles, signaling us to gather on the gym floor.

"Okay team captains will be…" a male coach announced, "Dash Parr and Lydia Johnson. Everyone else line up on the base line, when your name is called go stand behind your captain. Dash, you pick first." Lydia, I realized was the same girl who had smirked at me in first period and then sneered at me again in the locker room, right now she just stared at me with a look of contempt.

I lined up on the baseline with everyone else and waited for my name to be called, I hadn't expected to be called first. I blinked in surprise and went to stand behind Dash who was smiling at me. Lydia's scowl seemed to deepen and her eyes seemed to burn with anger as she watched me join Dash's team. She picked her player, not bothering to take her eyes off of me. Dash picked his three friends and some other people I didn't know, and before long, we were ready to start the game. We lined up on either side of the court with a line of foam balls across the middle and waited for the coach to blow the whistle. When the whistle blew, we all ran forward, Dash, who I noticed is really fast, swiped all of the balls before the other team could get them and distributed them to all the rest of our team. I caught the red ball he tossed at me and immediately pitched it across the court, hitting some guy dead-on in the chest.

"Sanders, you're out," the coach said to the boy I had just hit. So far, my shot had been the only one to actually make contact with someone on the other side.

"Nice throw," Dash told me, coming up beside me and landing his ball in another guy's stomach.

"You're not so bad yourself," I replied, dodging a ball that nearly hit me. The thrower was none other than Lydia, who was, once again, smirking at me from across the court.

'_What is her problem, I've never done anything to her. And why is she smirking like that? She didn't even hit me,'_ I thought as I picked up another ball that had just rolled to our side and aimed it at her. The ball hit her and she stumbled backwards. The coach told her to move to the bleachers but she didn't listen and kept (badly) throwing balls at me. Finally our coach blew her whistle.

"Lydia, you're out, get off of the court!" she yelled. Lydia spared one last glare at me and the coach before she pouted all the way to the bleachers.

We won, although it was obvious that Dash and I were the best players, as were the only ones left when we delivered the final blow to the other side. Our team cheered.

"You know you're really good at that," Dash told me.

"Thanks, I've had a lot of practice," I shrugged, not completely a lie, throwing accurately placed ecto-balls at your deranged father s good practice for dodge-ball. Dash seemed a little confused by my answer but didn't get the time to press because the whistle blew again and the coach told us to go change. Slowly I walked through the gym to the locker room, but was stopped by Lydia (who had jumped out from behind the bleachers) before I got there.

"Hey Dani," she sneered in a nasally high-pitched voice.

"Um…hi," I said in a 'what-do-you-want' tone.

"Do you actually think you can get away with it?" she twisted her mouth in disgust.

"I'm sorry, what exactly am I 'getting away with,'" I asked.

"Do you actually think you can just swoop in and steal all of _my _attention and _my boyfriend_?" she growled.

"Your boyfriend?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Dash! Of course!" she exclaimed.

"Okayyy, whatever," I told her, trying to push passed her to get to the locker room but when I tried she grabbed my shoulder and pushed me against the bleachers.

"Do you actually think you deserve him, you worthless piece of crap! Your parents didn't even want you, that's why you're a _foster _child right? Your parents didn't want you and neither does anyone else," she growled quietly, venom lacing every word. And, I'm not going to lie, that hurt, even if I knew it wasn't completely true. I knew that I could easily get out from under the death grip that Lydia had on my t-shirt, but that would involve using my powers and someone like Lydia was so not worth exposing my secret.

"Back off of her Lydia," I heard a voice behind me. Suddenly her hands released me.

I turned to see that it was Dash who had come to my rescue, and his three friends were right behind him, for back up, I guess.

"First of all, you have no right to treat her like that, second of all, she couldn't have _stolen _me because there is nothing going on between me and Dani and thirdly and most importantly, I AM NOT nor will I EVER be your boyfriend!" he shouted at her. She stuck out her bottom lip before storming back into the locker room to change.

"Dani, are you okay?" Dash asked, coming over to me.

"I'm fine, thanks for that. If you hadn't shown up, she probably would have been in the nurse's office and I probably would have been expelled," I laughed, causing the four boys to laugh too, "Well, we better go get dressed before the bell rings, huh?" I asked them.

"Oh, yeah," Dash chuckled nervously.

"Okay, maybe I'll see you later?" I asked.

"Yeah, sounds great," he told me before he and his friends left to go to their own locker room in the other gym.

I went into the locker room and changed in less than two minutes, I glanced in the mirror on my locker, my hair and make-up still looked good so I didn't bother going into the bathroom to primp like the rest of the girls. I grabbed my school stuff and managed a smirk to Lydia who had just come out of the bathroom, with a flat iron in one hand, still in her gym clothes. The bell rang and I watched in delight as the other girls, especially panicked that they were going to be late, before making my way to lunch.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Dash POV-

"Dude," John, elbowed me, "You totally like her."

"Come on man, no I don't," I wish that didn't sound so much like a lie. I gritted my teeth, I am never going to hear the end of this.

"Oh yeah you do," Eric added, smirking while arching your eyebrow.

"Yeah, man, when was the last time you actually broke up two girls fighting over you," Mark added.

"They weren't fighting over me," I muttered, somewhat irritated.

"Then why did you break it up?" Mark asked.

"Because, did you _hear _what Lydia said to Dani, and then she had the nerve to call me her boyfriend. I just didn't want Dani to think that I could ever date someone like Lydia…" I told them.

"Yeah, we get it, you didn't want her to think you were taken," John smirked while Eric and Mark nodded. I growled in annoyance at the three of them, who merely laughed at my frustration.

"Come on man," Mark interrupted finally, "Let's just go get changed for lunch."

Dani POV-

I met up with Ricky at lunch, we grabbed some food from the snack bar line, before taking some open seats in the back of the cafeteria next to a large window.

"So how was your last class?" Ricky asked casually.

"Good," I answered, "I totally dominated at dodge ball, but then afterwards, this girl Lydia decided to be all, 'I'm-a-spoiled-rotten-brat' in my face," I rolled my eyes.

"Lydia Johnson?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"I hate that little brat," Ricky gritted her teeth, "She has been in my class since second grade and she has always been that way. She thinks she owns this school and thinks she can take down anyone that stands in her way," Ricky told me.

"Yeah," I chuckled, "I kind of noticed."

"Hey Dani," I heard behind me. I turned to see Dash and his buddies behind me.

"Hey, again," I arched an eyebrow.

He grinned sheepishly, "Um, would you guys mind if we sat with you?"

I looked quickly at Ricky who was staring at me quizzically, but shrugged in response to my unasked question.

"Sure," I replied, turning back to Dash. He beamed and took the seat directly next to me, while his friends sat on the other side next to Ricky.

John looked at Ricky with a cocky smile, which she returned with a look that clearly said 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me.' John shrank under her harsh glare and immediately turned his attention to the overcooked pasta on his plate. Dash and I, who had been watching the whole exchange, burst out laughing, while John glowered at us.

"Soo," Ricky asked, arching an eyebrow in our direction, "You two…know each other?"

"Yeah, we met the first night I was staying with the Bests," I shrugged. Ricky nodded, but a little smirk pulled at the corner of her lips.

"So um…Dani?" Mark broke the silence, "Dash tells me that you're a pretty good DOOM player."

"Did he also tell you that I kicked his butt in that game?" I smirked, Dash blushed and his friends let out a chorus of "Oohs."

"Yeah, that's only cause I let you win," Dash quickly regained his composure and smirked back at me.

"Oh yeah? Is that why you accused me of cheating?" I asked, my smirk still not leaving my face.

"Um…no," Dash muttered, focusing on his plate, so he would not meet the mocking grins of his friends.

"Well," Eric interjected, "You should play me sometime, I'm a much better player," he winked.

"Sorry, but I wouldn't want to make you cry," I shrugged with my classic smirk still on my face while everyone else laughed.

Ricky watched our exchange back and forth with mild amusement. Having successfully embarrassed Eric, I turned back to my own plate and dipped one of my pizza cheese sticks in my marinara sauce. I pulled the gooey cheese with my teeth and then took a sip of my chocolate milk.

Suddenly my ghost sense went off.

"Umm…" Ricky started.

"What was that?" Dash finished.

"What was what?" I asked, like I had no idea what they were talking about.

"Umm…the blue mist that just came out of your mouth," Ricky asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I cocked my head to the side in mock confusion, "But I just realized that I really have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back," and then, as quickly as I could without being too obvious, I got up and left the table, going to the girls bathroom.

Ricky POV-

Okay, that was too weird. And there was no way I was going to let her get away with being so weird, so, I made an excuse to leave right after Dani, and followed her to the restroom. The door was just closing from when she opened it, so I caught it before it could close, sliding into the bathroom, and trying to be as stealthy as possible. There's a little wall just inside of the bathroom that leads into the area with the toilets and sinks that I was able to hide behind. Suddenly I heard "I'm Going Ghost!" and I poked my head around the corner where I could see Dani standing in the center of the bathroom. Then suddenly, a white ring formed around her waist, sliding up and down, changing her clothes. When the ring got to her hear, it turned her hair a bright white color and her eyes a neon green. When it stopped, she flew _through the freaking ceiling_!

Needless to say , I was stunned. I walked into the more open part of the bathroom where I had just seen her, and looked up. I didn't know Dani had done that, but I was going to find out, even if it meant standing here and waiting, all day. I leaned against the countertop and waited for her to return.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Dani POV-

The Box Ghost, annoying as ever, but he left with a final "BEWARE" after I had been firing continuous ectoblasts at him for three minutes.

'_I really need to get my hands on a Fenton Thermos,' _I sighed as I phased back into the school, because, I realized about 10 seconds into the 'fight' that I had no way to capture the Box Ghost, turning what would have been a thirty second battle into a three minute battle.

I phased through the building, not paying much attention because I was still in deep thought. At first glance, there was no one in the bathroom, so I set my feet down on the tile floor and transformed back to my human form. Suddenly, the handicap stall burst open. I'm sure I must been as white as…well, a ghost when someone stepped out.

To my surprise and slight relief and slight fear, it was Ricky. She gave me a smirk, leaning against the frame of the stall with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her green eyes shining knowingly.

"I take it have some explaining to do right?" I grimaced sheepishly.

"Uh…yeah," she arched an eyebrow at me.

I sighed and opened my mouth to speak, but at that moment another girl walked in. She glanced between Ricky and I but otherwise paid little attention to us as she went over to the mirror and applied some fresh lip gloss. Ricky rolled her eyes and walked over to me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me out of the bathroom. The bell rang and she continued to walk.

"Umm…shouldn't we be going to class?" I asked, partially to clarify, I mean I am new to this 'school' thing.

"You have missed six and a half years of school, I do not think one more period is going to make a difference," she replied, still dragging me by the wrist, where, I did not know.

Finally, she opened the door to an empty classroom, pulling me inside before closing the solid wood door and blocking the it with her body, not that I could not have phased out any way.

"What was that? Who…or what are you?" she demanded, once again crossing her arms and glaring at me.

"It's a long story," I muttered quietly, not meeting her eyes.

"I've got time," she told me.

"Okay," I sighed finally, "To put it simply, I am the clone of the half ghost hero of the city of Amity Park."

She blinked and seemed to be putting that together.

"What?" she asked after a second, "Who? Where?"

I sighed again, "Okay. Danny Phantom. He is from Amity park, which is a small town in Illinois, and the most haunted city in the world."

"Okay…wait, 'he'? I thought you said you were his clone?" she asked.

"I am. My 'dad' is a psycho, and I should add, that he is half ghost too. He has always wanted to kill Danny's dad and marry his mom. But when he met Danny, he decided that he wanted a half ghost son. And when Danny refused his offer, on the grounds that he is a psycho, my 'dad' decided that he would clone Danny to get his perfect half-ghost son. Apparently, something must have gone wrong because, obviously, I am neither 14 or a boy. What I didn't know when he made was, that he had always thought I was a mistake. Then he used me to try to trick Danny. I found out and we kicked his butt instead. But later, I started to destabilize, and my 'dad' tried to melt me into ectoplasmic goo. Danny saved me, and then I was on my own for a while. I was caught by the police, and here I am," I breathed out.

"So…what you turned into…you're a ghost?" she clarified.

I nodded, "Yep."

"But you're also a super, with powers and stuff?" she asked.

I nodded again.

She beamed in excitement, "Cool! I'm friends with a superhero! What powers do you have?"

I was both glad and relieved that she was still referring to me as her friend. I smiled at her and began to list my powers, "Um…ghost sense, which was that blue mist, by the way, invisibility, intangibility, flight, paranormal strength, duplication, possession ectoblasts, ice, and an ectoplasmic shield."

"Wow, that's a lot," she replied.

"No kidding, and I still don't have a lot of them mastered, especially duplication," I told her.

The tardy bell rang.

'_Wow, have we only been in here for five minutes?' _I wondered.

"Come on, let's go to our next class," she told me. Unfortunately, our next class happened to be on the other side of the school, and the whole walk there, Ricky drilled me with random questions.

"So does that make you half dead?" she wondered.

"I have no idea," I shrugged.

"What's you 'dad' like?" she asked, a little less bluntly.

"Evil," I stated simply. She looked like she wanted to ask more about him but, thankfully, she didn't pry.

"Is your clone as artistic as you are?" she wondered.

"I prefer to call him my cousin, and, honestly, I don't know. I haven't been around him very much," I frowned.

"Do you like Dash?" she asked, suddenly, probably hoping to catch me off guard by throwing it in with the other questions. I couldn't fight the blush that came to my cheeks.

"No," I refused to make eye contact with her. But I could see in my peripheral vision that she rolled her eyes.

"Is your cousin as clueless as you are?" she muttered, probably meant to be a rhetorical question, but I answered it anyway.

"Yes," I mumbled quietly, although she still heard me, because she giggled.

Finally, we arrived at our next class, and pushed open the classroom door. The science teacher did not look happy at our late entrance when she looked up from her lab demonstration.

"I hope you have a good excuse for being late," she scowled.

"Yes ma'am, you see it's Dani's first day, and she started to go the wrong way so I had to help her find her way back here," Ricky lied smoothly. The teacher did not look convinced, but she sighed in defeat anyway.

"Fine. Don't let it happen again. And welcome to my class Danielle," she told us, returning to her work as Ricky and I took our seats toward the back of the classroom.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Dash POV-

So, Dani's little disappearing act at lunch had been weird, and I was a little confused when she didn't come back.

'_Oh well,' _I thought, '_I'll see her later, I think my mom's doing carpool today anyway.' _And, with that in mind, I went to my next period class, math, which, is my worst subject.

Throughout the period, my mind kept drifting back to Dani, and I kept shaking it off. But she was, no doubt, hiding something. I just, didn't know what it was.

'_I should find out,' _I insisted to myself, '_But only for the safety of my family and our secrets, of course,' _I added mentally.

Finally the bell rang, releasing us to our next class. My next two classes passed by in a blur, nothing monumental happened, and, Dani wasn't in either of those classes.

It wasn't until 8th period that I actually got to see her again; in fact, she was seated right next to me.

"Alright everyone," our teacher Mrs. McKean announced, holding up her hands, "I'm sure by now, most of you have met Danielle, but if not, she is our new student."

Danielle, looked embarrassed, but even more than that she looked a little annoyed, which, I guess is understandable, she has been getting the "new student" speech all day.

"Anyway," Mrs. McKean continued, "Now, as you all know, this class isn't just about reading, it also involves being able to translate your reading and research for others to be able to understand it. That is why we will be starting a group project that will be due in one month. Everyone will have a partner—"

"Can we pick our partners?" one girl interrupted.

"No," Mrs. McKean replied, with only a slightly satisfied smirk as the rest of the class groaned, "Now, as I was saying, you will all be _assigned _a partner and you will both have to do research and present a project based on a mythical creature, that will also be _assigned _to you, by next month."

Everyone groaned again.

Mrs. McKean rolled her eyes, "Now, I thought this would make a very interesting topic. The other teachers wanted you to do a project on the government styles of other countries…but if you want to do that—"

"NO!" we all shouted at once, making Mrs. McKean chuckle a little.

"That's what I thought. Now…your partner will be the person sitting next to you so…row one, you're with row two; row three you're with group four…and group five since there are four of you in this row, you will just pair up with each other…" she rambled.

I glanced to my left, I was with Dani.

'_Perfect,'_ I thought, '_this will give me a chance to get to know a little more about her.'_

Dani looked over at me and smiled, seeming to be relieved that she had gotten paired with me, probably because I'm the only person she knows.

"Now, send one person from your group up to draw for a mythical creature to research," Mrs. McKean announced, holding up a jar filled with white strips of paper.

"I've got it," I told Dani, standing up to go draw a slip of paper. I reached into the jar and felt around for a few seconds before pulling out one piece. I unfolded the neatly folded piece of paper and read the word 'Ghosts.' I showed it to Mrs. McKean who smiled before making a note on her clipboard and then I went back to my seat next to Dani.

"So what'd we get?" she asked.

"Ghosts, apparently," I shrugged. If I hadn't had the skill of being able to read people, I wouldn't have noticed all the color drained from her face, making her look like she was going to be sick.

"Great," she replied, with a fake, weak, smile.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked. She blinked and focused on me, the color beginning to return to her cheeks.

"Yeah, just tired, I guess. It's been a long day," she lied. I nodded, not sure whether I should call her out on her lie and have her explain why ghosts are a problem for her, but then I realized tow things. 1) That it actually _had _probably been a long day for her, and she probably didn't want to talk about whatever it was, and 2) for whatever reason, there was something about her that feared or knew about ghosts or _something_ which could make this project the key to finding out a little more about her secretive past.

Dani POV-

I just about fainted when Dash said that we would be studying ghosts. Ghosts! I mean seriously, out of all the things we could be studying it had to be what _I _am and what my entire traumatic past centers around? Why couldn't we have been assigned a freaking unicorn?!

Dash seemed to sense that something was wrong and he asked me if I was alright. I blinked, taking a deep breath and looked at him.

"Yeah, just tired, I guess. It's been a long day," I told him, which was not completely a lie. It _had _been a long day, and so much had happened to me on my first day of school that it felt like I had already been here a year.

Dash didn't seem convinced by my half-lie but he dropped the subject, and, for that I was thankful.

I took another deep breath, '_Okay,'_ I assured myself, '_So maybe you have to do a project on ghosts. Big deal. At least you know you'll make an '_A_' and, you'll be working with Dash, who you, at least, _know_, so it could definitely be worse. Think of it this way, you could be partnered with Lydia,' _my inner voice reminded me, and I cast a glance over at the other side of the room where she was obviously trying to vaporize me with her eyes. '_Yes, this could _definitely _be worse.'_

Then the final bell of the day rang, and I stood up, suddenly realizing that I had no idea where to go to be picked up.

"Let's go," Dash said, snapping me out of my confusion, "My mom is picking us up today."

I looked at him gratefully and followed him out of the classroom. After stopping at our lockers and grabbing our backpacks, we both went to the front of the school at the circular pick-up line where Dash's mom was waiting in a minivan. The two of us climbed in the backseat, throwing our bags on the carpeted floor.

"So, Dani how was your first day of school?" Mrs. Parr asked looking at me in the rear-view mirror as she pulled away from the curb into the flow of parents picking up their kids.

"It was good. Dash and I actually have a project together," I told her.

"Oh, that's nice. So I guess the two of you will be spending a lot of time together?" she asked, a strange smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess so," I shrugged. Mrs. Parr seemed very pleased with herself as she drove us home. She stopped in front of Honey and Lucius's house and let me out.

"Bye Dani. I'm glad you had a nice day," she called waving to me as I stepped out.

"Bye Dani," Dash called.

"Bye," I replied waving back to both of them and walking up the front steps into the house, closing the wooden door behind me.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Dash POV-

After school the next day, Dani came over so that we could start working on our project. I told my mom that we didn't have to, since it wasn't due for a month, but she insisted that we "not procrastinate" on the project (that would have been a more convincing if it hadn't been coming from the woman who took three years to unpack). But, at any rate, I wasn't complaining…much.

At least by working on this project with her I might be able to find out what makes her so secretive.

We sat on my bedroom floor, our backpacks off to one side and my sister's laptop in front of us.

"So have you done any research yet?" she asked me.

"Um…no, because it isn't due for a month…" I smiled sheepishly, "What about you?"

"You could say I have some…information on the topic…" she told me in that secretive tight-lipped way that was really beginning to get on my nerves.

"Yeah? How?" I pried. She cast me a look, somewhere between annoyed and suspicious, before finally sighing and telling me.

"You know how I was telling you I lived in Amity Park? Well, that is the most haunted place in the country," she said, pulling the laptop towards her and typing something in the search bar. She then turned the screen to face me. 'Amity Park: rated most haunted city in America. This notorious city is protected by ghostly superhero Danny Phantom…' the article read.

"Wait…so ghosts actually _exist_?!" I asked curiously, because now, I was interested.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Wow, that's cool. Save that website, we should definitely include it into our project. But what does that have to do with you?" I wondered.

"Well…most people think all ghosts are evil, and about some of them…or at least the majority of the ones that hang around Amity Park that's true…but there are some good ones, like Danny Phantom, he saved my life on more than one occasion," she admitted.

"How?" I questioned her.

"It's a…long story…" she said, looking down, and I got the feeling that that was all that I would get out of her tonight.

"Okay, well then, ghosts are both good and bad," I said writing this down on a sheet of paper in my notepad, "What else do you know about ghosts?"

"Well, most of them have an obsession with something, like a place, a person, an object, or a hobby, that holds them to the physical world instead of allowing them to cross over. And most of them have powers or abilities, that are, most of the time, related to that specific object," she informed me, as I scribbled down her words on the paper.

'_So ghosts are kind of like supers and villains,' _I thought to myself.

"Okay, got it. What else?" I continued.

"Well, there are really two kinds of ghosts. The first kind is the kind that people see whenever they go on ghost tours, which is mostly just a residual memory, kind of like a shadow of who they were. These ghosts have no real abilities or power unless they are assisted by some demonic or other powerful force. They spend most of the time repeating the same things they did in life and are unable to leave a certain place or come out of a certain pattern. Also, they are not audible to the human ear and can only be heard with special equipment that detects EVP's," she told me, and I wrote quickly trying to catch up with all the information.

"What's an EVP?" I asked her.

"EVP stands for electronic voice phenomena. The second kind of ghost is the kind that is more common in Amity Park. These are the ghosts with the power, and are actually souls trapped on Earth. They are not limited to a specific place but they do tend to stay in a certain region. They are drawn to places that exert a higher level of paranormal power or provide them a connection to the Ghost Zone," she continued.

"Ghost Zone?" I questioned.

"It's sort of like an alternate dimension related to, and connected to our own, where ghosts live. Natural portals to the Ghost Zone pop up everywhere all the time, but they are random and don't stay for long periods of time. The reason ghosts are so common in Amity Park is because my cousin's parents actually built a portal to the Ghost Zone that stays open…more often than it should," she said.

'_Wow,' _I thought, my hand beginning to cramp up from writing so quickly, '_she sure has a lot of information.' _

"Okay…what are ghosts made of?" I asked.

"Both kinds of ghosts are made of a substance called ecto-energy, which adds the glow to a ghost. It is more concentrated in more powerful ghosts," she said.

"So what makes a ghost turn evil?" I asked and she stiffened a little.

"Well…it could either be a need for revenge against the world for their death or simply a need to use their power to take advantage of people who can't fight back," she answered sounding like she knew way too much on the subject.

"Okay, then, what makes a ghost turn good?" I requested to get the other side of the ghost personality spectrum.

She gave me a little smile, "What makes anyone turn good? Ghosts like Phantom are good because they feel the need to protect people from those who want to take advantage of them."

That was a feeling I knew well: having the duty to protect people, even if they didn't always want or appreciate your help.

'_It must be lonely to be a ghost,'_ I thought sadly, '_you're dead, you have no one, and then you spend your afterlife protecting people who don't like you.'_

"You sound like you know Phantom personally," I stated quietly. She nodded playing with a loop in the carpet.

"He helped save me from my dad," she said quietly.

"I thought your cousin saved you from your dad?" I said, sounding a lot more accusatory than I meant to be. She scowled at the floor, obviously ticked off by my tone.

"He did. My cousin knew that he couldn't do it alone, so he called Phantom for back up. They _both _saved me from my dad," she looked at me with her bright blue eyes like she was daring me to challenge her. I held up my hands in surrender.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," I apologized. The tension in her shoulders lessoned a little, and she exhaled looking back down at the floor.

"I know you didn't," she said quietly, "I'm sorry I reacted like that…it's just…hard to trust people after living with my dad…" she muttered and I felt bad for her.

"It's okay, I understand," I told her as I awkwardly put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye and smiled. To be honest, it was hard for me to understand. So far, I had lived a fairly easy life with a loving family, I had never had to live with a hateful person that would make it hard for me to trust anyone, but I could only imagine how she felt.

"Thanks," she replied, probably knowing that I had no idea how she felt, but accepting the comforting sentiment anyway.

Violet POV-

When I came home, and my laptop was "mysteriously" missing, I immediately stormed off towards Dash's room where I knew it would be.

Then, I stopped outside of his door when I heard Dani's voice. I made myself invisible and poked my head around the corner of the door frame and into his room.

The two of them were comfortably seated on the floor next to each other like they were old friends and I stifled a chuckle.

"He helped save me from my dad," I heard Dani say.

'_Who?' _I wondered, '_And why did he need to save her?'_

"I thought your cousin saved you from your dad?" Dash replied in an accusatory way which made me curious about why he would have to accuse her of her past.

"He did. My cousin knew that he couldn't do it alone, so he called Phantom for back up. They _both _saved me from my dad," Dani answered back defensively, seeming to take Dash aback a little.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," Dash apologized holding up his hands, and, I realized with a start, with actual _sincerity _in his apology, which was rare for Dash.

'_He must _really _like her,' _I smiled to myself.

"I know you didn't, I'm sorry I reacted like that…it's just…hard to trust people after living with my dad…" Dani muttered quietly.

'_Poor girl,' _I thought, '_it must be so hard for her.'_ Obviously, I had seen people with troubled pasts before, some even being the other foster children that Lucius and Honey brought home, but, there was something different about the kind of trauma Danielle must have faced.

"It's okay, I understand," Dash told her with a smile as he placed a hand on her shoulder. I was stunned, who was this boy and what did he do with my brother? Dash was actually being caring and thinking of someone besides himself?!

I smiled and leaned back against the wall, becoming visible once more, and walking away.

I'd get my laptop back later.


End file.
